*Hippie Food

Published by William Morrow, Hippie Food: How Back-to-the-Landers, Longhairs, and Revolutionaries Changed the Way We Eat, is a narrative history—an entertaining fusion of Tom Wolfe and Michael Pollan—that traces the colorful origins of once unconventional foods and the diverse fringe movements, charismatic gurus, and counterculture elements that brought them to the mainstream and created a distinctly American cuisine.

The Bay Area, with its large network of food "conspiracies" and co-ops, was obviously one of the cultural centers where this new cuisine flourished in the 1970s. At this talk, author Jonathan Kauffman will discuss how whole-wheat bread became one of the movement's totemic foods -- a symbol of the counterculture's resistance against the industrialization of food in America -- and how the Diggers and the San Francisco Zen Center both played a role in teaching young Americans how to bake it.

Jonathan Kauffman has been writing about food for The Chronicle since 2014 and, before that, for the East Bay Express and the SF Weekly. He focuses on the intersection of food and culture, whether that be profiling chefs, tracking new trends in nonwestern cuisines, or examining the impact of technology on the way we eat.

Be part of the happening. Exhibitions, author talks, arts and crafts and more as San Francisco Public Library celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love. See the SFPL Summer of Love Program Guide (PDF)